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Thursday, November 27, 2014

I was so excited when my friend, Sujata sent me this photo. It was hanging at the Houston International Quilt Show this past October. The blocks were made by quilting bloggers from each of the 50 states using only American Made Brand's cotton solids that are manufactured in the U.S. I can see my block all the way on the left, second row up from the bottom.

The blog tour featuring each of the fabric license plates took place last May. This was my block, representing Pennsylvania.

AMB put the license plate style blocks together and it was on exhibit in Houston. It truly is a great representation of quilting in America and what each of our states has to offer.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

I really enjoy visiting guilds and sharing what I have learned about quilting. Often, I learn something too. This past week I was at Warwick Valley Quilt Guild. It was my third visit and it's always nice to see familiar faces. This visit was for my Curvalicious workshop.

This is a very experienced group of quilters and they are very creative. Many of them have silk in their stashes that they are hesitant to use. Learning the tools to work with silk during this workshop should give them the courage to use that silk.

Another quilter was making silk leaves to sprinkle on the curvalicious background.
Laura was using Radiance (silk and cotton) that she hand dyed.

And this was going to be a larger wallhanging designed with cotton.

To me, the purpose of taking a workshop is to learn a new technique and experiment. Students sometimes think that they will upset a teacher by changing their technique, not exactly reproducing the project. That's not the purpose of my workshops. I find it so exciting when someone takes my technique, changes it and puts their spin on it.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

I created two identical "Elegantly Amish" quilts (39"x39") to determine if silk dupioni quilts can be washed. Up to this point I was telling my students that silk quilts needed to be dry cleaned. Washing would ruin them. Once a scientist, always a scientist, so I needed to do an experiment. What would happen if I washed a silk quilt? Would it lose its sheen? Would it get distorted? Would it shrink? Would it bleed?

But before I share the results of my experiment, I want to introduce Midnight Quilter aka Ashley Malinowski. She quilted "The Twins".

Ashley is a young woman who recently graduated from college. She purchased a long arm at the end of her senior year of high school. She put herself through college by quilting for others. Although she graduated with a very employable degree, she decided she wanted to keep on longarming to keep in touch with her customers! If you want to read more about her or get in touch to hire her,

So what happened to The Twins when I gently washed one of the twins in a low suds detergent?

The quilt on the right was the one that was washed. It shrunk 2.5%. It did not lose its sheen, that is so important when sewing with silk dupioni. It did not bleed. What happened because of the shrinkage is that the colors became a bit more vibrant, which is hard to see in this photo. I like the increase in vibrancy. Maybe I'll wash all of my silk quilts. Maybe.

I have presented my newest lecture "Sensational Silk" a couple of times. I am happy to share with other quilters my silk quilts and my tips for quilting with silk. I can now tell them that the quilts can be washed. If you want to read my other tips, check out thisLINK.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

It's here! I am so excited. My first published pattern using Curvalicious(c)!

It made it's debut this past week during a workshop with Calico Cutters Quilt Guild. I am a little biased because it's my home guild, but the ladies did a great job. I can say that even thought they called me tough task master.

You know how I can tell they were working very hard? The room was quiet!

And thinking hard!

It couldn't have been too bad, because Dorcas was still smiling.

There is always someone who has a great gadget. This time it was Beth.

We had a great Show & Tell the next day at guild,

even though about half of them were too shy to share.

The pattern is now available in my etsy shop. I decided to print it as an oversized pattern, so that I could include a full sized pattern of the quilt for ease of placement.

So the package measures 8 1/2" x 11".

We are having nasty weather her in PA, so it would be a nice time to think about the beachor start planning your summer sewing projects.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Martha Rose has done it again. The middle aged California quilter helps to solve another mystery in this second book written by Mary Marks. This book is filled with quilty details and even focuses on their generosity sharing the giving of quilts to a group of homeless people that becomes integral to the mystery.
I read it on the airplane ride home from Bali. It certainly helped to pass the time.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

The next 12 days will be crazy busy for me. I will be traveling from Malvern, PA to the Pocono Mountains to Warwick, NY. Here's my list of presentations, just in case you will be in the area. You know I'd love to see old friends and meet new friends.

Check the websites by clicking the highlighted links, or call ahead to get the particulars.

So are you wondering why I made identical twin silk quilts? You will find out if you attend my lecture at Penn Oaks. If you can't make it, I know lots of you live too far away, I'll share the story next week, right here. Sign up with Bloglovin' to make sure you don't miss it.